Sunday, April 19, 2015

"Peace Not Pieces": A Poem by Dorothy Randall Gray

Four little girls went to a church to play
and ended up in pieces
James Byrd went for a ride in Texas
and ended up in pieces
Amadou Diallo went for his wallet
in his doorway
and ended up in pieces
His door with 41 bullet holes
sold on the internet
in pieces

Black women stripped searched in airports
Their dignity ripped to pieces
Black men stripped of manhood in the streets
Their lives forever in pieces
And I want peace
Not pieces

We are a country torn to pieces
by bad karma
cloaked in good intentions
Its jagged edges cut into our lives
and the pain grows deeper every day

Arabs and airplanes fill us with suspicion
Anthems and anthrax order our days
Muslims are seen as murderers
While countries we've bombed
still bleed with rage
that comes back to haunt us
And I want peace
Not pieces

America is at war with its own
the dissident
the different
the disenchanted
The chronically outspoken
The perpetually powerless
The bodaciously black
America is at war with its own
Bill of Rights, Constitution
and the freedom
it says it's defending

We are a country torn to pieces
by police and politics and posturing
And barbecue mentalities
bent on smoking out the enemy
while calling itself a friend
The world doesn't need a friend
who kills with friendly fire
And I want peace
Not pieces

Peace not pieces
Peace
not just the absence of war
but a state of mind
Peace
not scribbled on
thin papers of promise
But carved into thick timbers of veracity
Peace because my soul demands it
Peace because it is my birthright
Peace because its pot has been
on the back burner too long
and it's boiling over

Peace because"An eye for an eye makes one blind"
says Gandhi
And I want to live to see this world
dressed in the rainbow
of all its possibilities
Peace because "I have a dream" said Dr. King
And I want to wake up to a new day
with an ancestor song on my lips
"Free at last, free at last
Thank God almighty, we're free at last!"
Peace not pieces
Peace not pieces
Peace

"Peace Not Pieces" from the poetry collection Sharing the Same Sky. For more info on Dorothy Randall Gray and her work: http://dorothyrandallgray.com/

Dorothy is author of the acclaimed bestseller, Soul Between The Lines: Freeing Your Creative Spirit Through Writing (Avon/HarperCollins.) Her other published works include Muse Blues, Woman, Creative Rituals for Daily Living, Family, The Passion Collection, and A Taste of Tamarinda. She has been a contributor to the NY Times, Conditions, Personal Journaling, Heart&Soul, Drum Voices, SisterFire, HealthQuest and many other anthologies and periodicals.
For years Dorothy has been an advocate for spiritual activism, personal empowerment, transformational creativity, and global healing. To implement this passion she founded the Heartland Institute for Transformation.

She has since shared the dais with the Dalai Lama, served as a UNESCO delegate, and supplied African schools with writing implements.Among the numerous venues that have enjoyed Dorothy's creative works are Columbia University, Carnegie Mellon Institute, Claremont Colleges, Huntington Women's Studies Association, the United Nations, PEN America, Nuyorican Poets Café, Center for Policy Studies, The Kitchen, International Center for Cultural Studies, Open Center, Yari Yari Pamberi, and NYC Museum of Natural History.